Securely Access and Control Your Devices From Anywhere

drasyl links all your devices into one programmable high-performance mesh network across any location or network. You control network access and behavior from a simple centralized interface while drasyl sets up and manages your network in the background.

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About drasyl

drasyl is a lightweight software-defined overlay networking solution that securely links your devices across any existing network. It creates direct encrypted connections between devices, forming a high-performance mesh overlay that automatically adapts to available network paths and works seamlessly through barriers such as routers or firewalls.

Programmable networking with customizable routing and topology.
Mesh overlay that forms direct connections between devices.
Zero-trust network access with end-to-end encryption.

No proprietary centralized network controller is required. The network configuration is stored in a simple text-based file that can be shared via a standard web server or through local file copies for a fully decentralized setup. With zero trust security, end-to-end encryption and fine-grained access control, you remain in complete control of your network.

Automatic deployment and operation across any network.
Both centralized or decentralized management possible.
Free, open-source and completely self-hostable.

Use Cases

drasyl offers a wide range of use cases. Here is a selection of typical application scenarios.

Access your personal devices from anywhere

Securely reach your home desktop, NAS, or other devices without the hassle of setting up a VPN, configuring port forwarding, or maintaining DynDNS.

Access restricted organizational resources from home

Gain controlled access to internal services without opening firewall ports or exposing systems to the public Internet.

Create ad-hoc secure networks between peers

Instantly connect devices for collaboration in temporary setups like workshops, hackathons, or emergency response teams without altering existing infrastructure.

Link distributed teams or sites

Work securely across locations as if everyone were connected to the same local network.

How drasyl works

Built on a fast and secure peer-to-peer protocol that achieves direct connectivity between any device, drasyl lets you create overlay networks using an easy-to-use network configuration. This configuration defines authorized devices, access policies and network routes. It is created by the network admin, distributed as a file or via HTTP, and used by each device to autonomously build and maintain the overlay network across physical networks and firewalls.

drasyl in Action

drasyl has been successfully applied in various domains.

Resilient Communication

Resilient networking for coordinating emergency services in crisis situations, as demonstrated in the research project RESCUE-MATE. Multiple independent organizations can operate a shared network while keeping their domains separate. drasyl links these networks and maintains connectivity even if physical links or nodes fail, using redundant nodes, paths, and resources.

Multi-domain network operation without central control.

Automatic failover via redundant paths.

Service continuity through redundant standby nodes.

Computation Offloading

Ad-hoc connection of heterogeneous resource providers and consumers for distributed, fine-grained computations, as explored in the research project Tasklets. drasyl provides the networking foundation to interconnect devices across diverse networks, enabling low-latency, high-bandwidth computation and efficient result exchange without complex configuration.

On-demand direct path establishment between nodes.

Optimized for low-latency, high-bandwidth computation exchange.

Dynamic participation in open overlay networks.

Smart City Data Sharing

Decentralized, secure, and privacy-preserving data sharing between citizens and institutions, as demonstrated in the research project SANE. drasyl enabled direct, efficient, and secure communication across network barriers such as NAT, firewalls, and IPv4/IPv6 incompatibilities, ensuring accessibility without additional infrastructure.

Secure peer-to-peer communication without intermediaries.

Reliable NAT, firewall, and IPv4/IPv6 traversal.

Flexible, decentralized overlay topologies.

Publications

drasyl has been featured in multiple academic publications.

H. Bornholdt, K. Röbert, and P. Kisters, "Accessing Smart City Services in Untrustworthy Environments via Decentralized Privacy-Preserving Overlay Networks", 2021 IEEE International Conference on Service-Oriented System Engineering (SOSE). 2021, Oxford, United Kingdom. DOI: 10.1109/SOSE52839.2021.00021.

H. Bornholdt, K. Röbert and M. Fischer, "Low-Latency TLS-1.3-aware Hole Punching", ICC 2023 – IEEE International Conference on Communications. 2023, Rome, Italy. DOI: 10.1109/ICC45041.2023.10279326.

H. Bornholdt, K. Röbert, M. Breitbach, M. Fischer and J. Edinger, "Measuring the Edge: A Performance Evaluation of Edge Offloading", 2023 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops and other Affiliated Events (PerCom Workshops). 2023, Atlanta, USA. DOI: 10.1109/PerComWorkshops56833.2023.10150261.

K. Röbert, H. Bornholdt, M. Fischer and J. Edinger, "Latency-Aware Scheduling for Real-Time Application Support in Edge Computing", EdgeSys '23 – The 6th International Workshop on Edge Systems, Analytics and Networking. 2023, Rome, Italy. DOI: 10.1145/3578354.3592866.

H. Bornholdt, K. Röbert, S. Schulte, J. Edinger and M. Fischer, "A Software-Defined Overlay Networking Middleware for a Simplified Deployment of Distributed Application at the Edge", The 40th ACM/SIGAPP Symposium On Applied Computing (SAC'25). 2025. Catania, Italy. DOI: 10.1145/3672608.3707729.

H. Bornholdt, "Software-Defined Overlay Networking for the Deployment of Distributed Applications at the Edge", 2025. PhD thesis. University of Hamburg. URN: urn:nbn:de:gbv:18-ediss-124485.